


So Great a Man

by KatherineRose2000



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27138892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatherineRose2000/pseuds/KatherineRose2000
Summary: My version of how things went down when Darcy asked Mr. Bennet for approval.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mr. Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75





	So Great a Man

_"In the evening, soon after Mr.Bennet withdrew to the library she saw Mr. Darcy rise also and follow him..."_ (Pride and Prejudice, pg. 363)

* * *

“Yes, yes,” Mr. Bennet motioned to the gentleman who followed behind him. “Come in.” 

Mr. Darcy entered the library somewhat awkwardly, and sat; Mr. Bennet, whose curiosity was now fully piqued by this interruption, was therefore inclined to laugh at him at his earliest convenience.

He began without preamble, - “Mr. Bennet, I see no need to put off my true purpose: I have come to ask consent for your daughter’s hand to be given.”

Mr. Bennet, who had inferred something ridiculous in nature from this seeking of an audience, became genuinely baffled for a moment at such a beginning to an end. However, it were a mere moment, and he was then restored to his habitually lackadaisical self.

“So, Mr. Darcy. What makes you think you are good enough for my Lizzie?” The father peered with satirical eye over his spectacles. 

Darcy did not fail to also note the challenge therein. He thought long and carefully before he spoke and Mr. Bennet’s eyebrows continued to climb.

Best to start immediately, then.

“Your daughter and I are intellectual equals. We are suited in our minds and principles. She is my superior in many ways,” he acknowledged seriously, “but if I may be so bold, Sir, as to say that I have qualities that will gratify her.”

Mr. Bennet did appear almost to be on the point of horrified laughter thus far. 

Mr. Darcy kept his composure commendably under such duress. 

“And what _are_ those qualities, Mr. Darcy?”

“I will cherish her,” he said with such an odd edge of tenderness that it seemed not to come from that gentleman at all. “I have been used to caring for others - I have a younger sister, Georgiana. She has been under my guide since before the age of ten.”

“I am capable of providing for your daughter, as you know,” Darcy concluded, folding his hands in such a way that Mr. Bennet, whose face held genuine puzzlement, relaxed into a grim sort of irony at this switch to convention.

“Ah yes, my daughter, the village pauper - of course she must be delighted with your wealth.” 

Darcy, who could not help but feel the former sting of one particular occasion with the aforementioned daughter at this unwittingly astute barb (and with apt reason he reminded himself), kept silent. The only sign he had heard was that his face was a little red. 

Mr. Bennet took this as naught but haughty pride. In one respect, perhaps, he was not wrong; but if pride it be, it was no improper one. Had Elizabeth been aware of the proceedings, she would have been muched vexed with her father, and rightly so; how much could this man, who had suffered so, and who had done so much for _such_ a family, endure?

“I love her,” he finished simply, once having regained much of his composure. “She returns my affection.” 

The father, whose own peculiar nature and particular regard for his favorite daughter had brought him to a point, seemed to resign himself, and his forehead smoothed at the admission. 

“Well, then. I see now I was mistaken. You see, Mr. Darcy, I made a small bet with myself that you would survive this whole interview without once mentioning any of the more tender sensibilities for my Lizzie. If she can inspire _such_ words in you, who am I to stand in your way? ”

Darcy started at this, feeling more than a little harassed. 

“I give you my consent.” 

The gentleman blew out a breath, but quickly remembered himself. 

“I dare not deny so great a man anything. But,” Mr. Bennet gave him one last skewering look, that reminded Darcy startlingly of his betrothed, “I do so only in the knowledge that Lizzie is _determined_ to have you. I never could deny her a heart’s wish. We shall see what she has to say, Mr. Darcy. We shall see.”

“Send her in, will you,” he added as an afterthought.

And then Mr. Bennet bestowed upon his presumptive-future-son-in-law such a smile, so wry and filled with genuine worry, that the gentleman left feeling altogether puzzled, but no less content with the outcome of this strange interview.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> A very throw away piece, so I see why Austen didn't write it, but I always wanted this scene in the book. I mean, a showdown between these two? Come on. I HAD to write it, even though I'm not satisfied that it's reached it's full potential. I even had a version that had Mr. Bennet being a satyrical maniac, but it was too unrealistic, considering the situation, which for him provokes great anxiety (the likes of which he's probably never known before). Alas.


End file.
